The chances of Al-Farouq Aminu slipping to pick eight may be slim, but stranger things have certainly happened. Here we take a look at the video to see what Aminu can bring to the Clippers.

Transition Play:

Aminu’s ability to get out and run on the break is breathtaking to watch. He’s listed at 6-foot-8, but he’s all arms and legs and as a runner he takes gigantic strides up the court. Often times Aminu would collect the defensive rebound, outlet the ball, and beat his wings up the court as the trail man on the break. Throughout the year he showed fantastic chemistry with his point guard Ishmael Smith, one of the best distributors on the break in all of college basketball. With Smith commanding the middle of the floor, Aminu would do a great job creating angles for his point guard and also presenting him with multiple alley-oop opportunities. On the times Aminu brought the ball up court himself or received it early on the perimeter, he was scarily reminiscent of a young Lamar Odom. Aminu’s go to move on the break is to head right at the defender (almost like a running back heading right at a safety) and at the last second shift all his weight to avoid any contact before finishing with a pretty fingerroll at the rim. So much of being a good athlete is about body control, and Aminu passes with flying colors there, even at full speed.

Scoring:

Unfortunately, all Aminu really brings to the table offensively is putbacks and transition chances. There wasn’t one available clip of Aminu making a pullup jumper off the dribble, and his post game is completely reliant on being faster than his opponent. Outside of being able to finish with either hand and use the backboard well around the rim, there’s no real “skill” to Aminu’s game. Yes, some of the moves he makes are aesthetically pleasing, but his jumper is basically non-existent at this point and a long ways from being even passable in the league. Aminu shot 27.3 percent from three this year on 2.1 attempts per contest, with most those shots being wide open looks. More often than not, opposing defenses wisely begged Aminu to shoot from the perimeter, and far too often he obliged.

Rebounding:

If Aminu is so limited offensively, why did he score 15.8 points a game this year? Look no further than the outrageous 4.3 offensive rebounds per game he put up, which was good for the fourth highest total in the nation. Aminu was far superior to the athletes in the ACC this year, but even against NBA caliber bigs like Georgia Tech’s Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal, he’d find ways to get rebounds. Aminu has a ridiculous 7-foot-3 wingspan that helps him get to a lot of balls he has absolutely no business getting to. He’s not a banger, but he doesn’t need to be.

Post Defense:

Because of that wingspan, Aminu can hack it as a post defender in the league. One of the best things about Aminu is that he disrupts entry passes and uses his lateral quickness to jump from side to side of the post player. If the pass does get through, he does a really great job of getting those long arms straight up in the air. Unlike many big time athletes, Aminu doesn’t try and swat every thing out of the gym. He’s content with providing a little bump with the chest, and then getting those arms in the way of shot attempts. That will go a long way in staying out of foul trouble as a rookie.

On the perimeter:

Aminu’s combination of foot speed, lateral quickness, hand speed, and length could make him a tremendously versatile defender on the next level. At Wake Forest, Aminu looked a little like Josh Smith does in Atlanta, being able to switch on every cut, every screen, and still hold the advantage over his competitors. Aminu probably shouldn’t spend a ton of time on centers or point guards, but two through four? No problem. Aminu has an incredible motor defensively that often has him running around the court, hounding ball carriers, looking for strips, flying over for weak side blocks, and generally covering a ridiculous amount of space on the court. His one weakness is that he allows a little too much room for opposing players to get their jumpers off in isolation, but in a defensive system he trusts you could expect him to play tigher on the wing.

Pick and Roll Defense:

By far the most impressive aspect of Aminu’s game is his pick and roll defense. There is literally no strategy he can’t excel in. Want to switch every on ball screen? No problem, Aminu is a good enough athlete to stay in front of people. Want to get out and hedge? Aminu is so fast laterally that he can push point guards to either sideline and sometimes as far back as half court. Want to trap the screen, like the Dunleavy Era Clippers liked to do? That hand speed and harrassing length can cause all kinds of problems in passing lanes. With Griffin, Aminu, and Kaman (who is surprisingly good at getting out on pick and rolls), the Clips could become a top-tier defensive team simply by taking away the bread and butter of most NBA offenses.

Best Case Scenario: Josh Smith

Josh Smith is one of the rare players in the NBA who can succeed without any sort of offensive game to speak of. For many years Smith didn’t realize his limitations and shot and missed a ton of jumpers, looking like he would never figure it out. Last year Smith stopped shooting and just hung around the rim, and it was kind of a revelation. Aminu has shown that he likes to spot up, even though he’s a horrid shooter and was a cut-above athletically in college. Like we tend to preach here on Clipperblog, knowing your limitations as a player is half the battle. Smith has already sort of blazed the path for a guy like Aminu. Hit the offensive boards, fly out in transition, dunk everything in sight. If Aminu follows that path, the sky’s the limit.

Worst Case Scenario: Tyrus Thomas

For every success story of a relatively unskilled athlete making it (Josh Smith, Gerald Wallace) , there are a million guys who don’t. Athletic forwards without offensive games and a true position just don’t have a lot of success very often if they’re not elite in other areas of the game. Can Aminu be an elite defender? Certainly, but he won’t be if that’s not his primary focus.

Aminu shows hints of being a Josh Smith or a Gerald Wallace type tweener, but he’s not nearly the athlete those two players are. Like most of the players in this draft, Aminu doesn’t project out to be a star. He can’t create his own shot and he can’t shoot, and in the NBA, that’s a problem.

That said, it’s rare to see a player with those physical tools give the amount of effort Aminu already does on the defensive end. For a team that values that end of the court and likes to get out a run a bit, Aminu is a perfect guy to plug in at either forward spot. Are the Clippers that team? We don’t know yet, and that’s one of the most unsettling parts about evaluating prospects in this year’s draft.

I just don’t see how Aminu is so highly regarded. He has a great motor and is a pretty good athlete but he’s not an extraordinary one. At 210 lbs he is too small to play any power forward that plays in the post and at the 3 he’s going to kill any half court offense. In the Suns offense he could be good but then again with no shot outside of 8 feet he might not. He will likely be great off the bench with a very quick pace pushing point guard. This is not the type of prospect an NBA team should be looking at in the top 5 and maybe even the top ten. Too often GMs get caught up on what a player may become instead of what he’s likely to become. In Aminu’s case that’s Tayshaun Prince minus the 37% 3 point shooting.

As is specifically relates to the Clippers, there are several other small forwards that fit their needs much better, George, Babbitt and even Hayward that should be around at the 8th pick. Those being decent defender, though not necessarily elite, decent penetrator and excellent outside shooter. My preference is Babbitt. This is of course assuming that Wes Johnson isn’t available. If he is then he’s the man.

ghost_ride

Yeah, the whole Wes Johnson falling to us is a pipe dream, we’d need to deal with Minnesota at 4 to get him. Instead, I think we’ll just take the best SF available, which hopefully isn’t Aminu, but it could be worse.

I keep thinking Aminu would clog the middle for us, but Kaman can stretch the D as well with his jumper, drawing out the opposing teams’ bigs, and Aminu could also be very good coming off the bench.

Clipped

Clippers should have a good look at Ishmael Smith.

D.J. Foster

I was really impressed by his transition and playmaking abilities from all the video I saw on him. Dude can’t shoot a lick (sub 50 percent free throw shooter) but he’s a really good distributor. Clips worked him out the other day.

Still hoping they fall in love with Jerome Randle from Cal. He’s my second best point guard in the draft after Wall and may be there in the second round.

Real Talents

During 2009 draft pick no one was talking about Tyreke Evans & the likes of talents. And we are doing the same this year as well.

Following players are going to surprise many bottom teams because they don’t use their instinct & vision while selecting a talent.

Aminu is our guy! Very good on D, very strong to guard the likes of Granger at SF and amazing jump shot! In transition he is the best SF in this draft! Needs some work on range and upper body, but he could become something like Trevor Ariza in numbers – 15pts/8rbs/8ass/3blk

Qlippers

I agree, only if he can shoot. He would clog the lane. We tried a team that can only shoot 15 feet and in and it was disaster.

a person who likes to call bullshit on stupid projections.

c’mon, dude, this is absolutely hilarious. not a single person in nba history has ever averaged 8 rebounds, 8 assists, and 3 blocks in a campaign. not one. certainly not trevor ariza, whose career season last year netted 5.6 rpg, 3.8 apg, and 0.6 bpg. josh smith, the only comparable statistical contributor, averaged 8.7 rpg, 4.2 apg, and 2.1 bpg.

if aminu –or anybody else at all, anywhere, ever– would hit those numbers, you’d pick them #1 overall. only eight guys averaged 8 apg last year, and zero averaged 3 bpg. anyone who could do both would be like, what, mark eaton cross’d with john stockton’s court vision?

http://www.johnpezzetti.com Pez

On an NBA Today podcast Hubie Brown said at any given time he tried to have 3 scorers on the court…between baron, blake, ej, kaman, (rhino?) we’ve got some pretty decent scoring…aminu would be a welcome addition in my book.

Curtis

I agree, our team doesn’t need scoring, and besides, he’s young. He has the next couple of years to develop a more substantial offensive game. The best part is that it sounds like he has the defense down, and that’ll do wonders for the other guys on the court.

In all honesty, if Aminu is available at the 8th pick, go with him. Otherwise, I’m liking the look of adding some depth in Xavier Henry, and focusing on resigning R. Butler and/or T. Outlaw for the SF position.

SamMays

I’d pass on Aminu… For the right team, he’d be the right guy. That team would have solid shooters at PG and PF… We don’t have that luxury. We need a SF who can stretch the defense and open things up for Baron and Kaman and Griffin… That’s right, Griffin… He’s the one who’s going to be out on the break for us and attacking the basket… We don’t need a SF who is a lesser immitation of his… We need a shooter. Aminu isn’t a shooter… We would have no half court offense if we added Aminu to this team… Does anyone remember Thornton? We had a much better team with Butler on the floor because he was at least a decent shooter.

I’m intrigued by Babbit… George and Hayward might also be good…

Aminu would be fine on Utah or any # of other teams, but not us… He reminds me too much ofa guy like Marvin Williams or Darius Miles. All athleticism with superstar potential, who just isn’t and didn’t get it done.

ghost_ride

Draft should go Wall, Turner, Favors, W. Johnson, Cousins top 5

What does Golden State do at 6? They could pick from Monroe, Aminu, or another big like Patterson, etc. If they don’t take Aminu, I have a feeling that Detroit will pick him up.

I know Monroe is a position we need, I’m tired of drafting athletes. I just want a player w/ a basketball IQ, they make game easier by making the extra pass.

BotVr

Why do we need a PF exactly? Monroe will be useless behing Blake. The Blake back-up should be someone with at least 4-5 seasons in the league. PF is probably the second most important position, we can’t afford to have two rookies there! I would prefer to keep Gooden or even Smith as a back-up and draft Henry! If we are to draft a PF, go with Patterson – he can play SF and has been working on that for 6 months now!

My top 3 for out pick is:
Wes Johnson (no chance, but some teams do stupid things)
Aminu (we need the D – come on, a shooter would be great, but we are bottom last in D since Camby left)
Patterson (he can be our SF back-up and a PF back-up, can score, can rebound)

Morningstar

The Clippers don’t need a slasher scorer with limited shooting skills, Aminu would just clog up the middle. In my opinion we need someone with multiple skill set, such as Hayward. He can shoot, dribble, pass, and he is a known winner, something the clippers need are winners.

To me Aminu would be just another bad #8 pick in the history of bad #8 picks. He looks scary but we need a solid player. Anyways, none of these SF are going to be starters anyway, I say we resign Butler or Outlaw, to me this makes Hayward even more intriguing. Plus, Hayward comes from a very disciplined defencive minded team in Butler, thats what got them as far as they went. So defencivly Hayward is strong there too, and he is faster than expected.

Clipper Derrick

Props to KA for the very cool video of the Wallace v. Gasol matchup.

http://thenolookpass.com illastrate

Aminu’s a phenomenal athlete with a great motor, superb rebounder and very good defender, basically what Thornton was supposed to be. Why wouldn’t we want him? He’s what this lackadaisical team needs. A Griffin/Aminu forward duo would lead to many boards, blocks, and fast break points. If we wanna change the culture here, we need hustlers, guys who will do the dirty work. Not talented players who take nights off(a la Baron).

NRM

I’m still unenthusiastic about pick 8, and still think we’ll need to resign R. Butler. Do we have any sort of team options on Travis Outlaw? Worst case scenario we can keep him.

Bestclipfan

His shot is developing, and it looks good in the predraft workout videos I have seen. He doesn’t need to be a great jump shooter, he just has to be able to hit the open jump shot so that defenders can’t drop off him. Also the chances of Aminu falling to us is growing, due to the rise of Monroe’s stock. I think Aminu is probably going to be not only the best player available but also fits very well in terms of team needs.

TNT57

HEYWARD. He’s smart and he’s…smart. We don’t have too many of those guys. KAMAN might be the dumbest player ever in the NBA. I mean, who forgets to jump at the opening tip? What does Jerry Sloan always do…he gets smart players. I’m convinced except for the top 20 guys that most of the rest are pretty close physically. Brains is what separates them.

bestclipfan

I wouldn’t say Kaman is dumb, he is just slow which is typical of centers.

yes, bench the teams best/highest paid player, brilliant. dont get caught up in scoring numbers, baron davis is still a great player. just wait until you see him play with prof. griff, everyone is going to say “where was this last year?” but its all about who you play with.

More Clues

Which Way Clippers?

Find more clues on LATimes Sunday edition.Sports section-page C11.

It appears LeBron is coming to LA. And he wants Clippers 2009-10 core group to return.
That includes Drew Gooden, Travis Outlaw and Steve Blake. Let’s not forget, Clippers won 33 games inspite of trying hard to fare better in lottery slot.

david

sterling would never pick any guy with the name Al-Farouq Aminu..bet your bottom dollar on that…
PLEASE SELL THE TEAM!! GET US OUT OF JAIL